Alan, I hope you'll permit me to make a couple of points.
Firstly, if you wish to scalp eighths, then you need to place orders for more than 500 shares. You indeed do as poorly as you mention, if you do less than at least 1000 share lots. Sure it's easy for me to tell you to do 1K lots, but if you can't afford to do so, then get it out of your head that you are there to scalp. Decide that you will find a style that better suits your temperament, as well as your budget. Incidentally, you can also go to another Terra Nova affiliate, JPR Capital, whose commissions are $10 per trade, plus a buck or two for certain specific ECN's or Selectnet trades. I may be wrong on that, so you should check out their website. Just do the WWW thing before their name. Those cheaper commissions may help your net, also.
I should also tell you that I know a bunch of people doing very well with MB Trading and JPR, even some who are scalping. Frankly, scalping isn't for me, but perhaps you haven't researched the area well enough. I just don't know what kind of preparation you've done prior to beginning trading, but you can't learn too much. Forgive me if that isn't an area you have been lax in.
I think you should also give Steve a call, and maybe he can help you out, in terms of you becoming a client, maybe even becoming a swing/position trader. It's not anything to be embarrassed about if you find that daytrading isn't for you. It isn't for many. Frankly, some people are proud to say it isn't for them. You may be one of them.
One other thing I would suggest, and I do it here because I know Steve to be fond of the guy I'm gonna recommend, if you haven't already seen me hyping him elsewhere. His name is Baron Robertson, and he runs a site called The Elite Trader, at elitetrader.com. There's tons of info there, as well as an advanced daytrading course that is enormously helpful. Also, there is a chat room you can hang out in during the day, for free. Baron also will answer any question asked of him honestly and helpfully, via email, or in the chat room, which also holds a roundtable discussion on Tuesday nights at 8:30PM.
Hope all of this helps. By the way, you can also check out Yamner's site, where there is similarly a wealth of good info. Steve can give you the specific URL's.
Len |
